1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronically processed sound to enhance the quality, clarity, presence, intelligibility and other characteristics of electronically processed sound.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, the concept of electronically processed sound to enhance the quality, clarity, presence, intelligibility and other characteristics of analog electronically processed sound is known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,253 to Knoppel addressees the concept. As set forth in FIG. 1 taken from this patent, the sound source 11 passes through an amplifier 13 and then divided into two discrete signal paths 15 and 17. The signal traveling along path 17 is passed in succession through an exciter circuit 19 and amplitude attenuator 21 and is then combined in a mixer 20 traveling along path 15. The combined signal is passed through an amplifier 23 and then fed into an output transducer 25 such as a loudspeaker. The exciter circuit includes high pass filter means and harmonics creator means. The harmonics creator means is designed to create harmonics based upon the amplitude of the signal through the high pass filter.
Another relevant patent in the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,488 issued to Werrbach for Transient Discriminate Harmonics Generator which describes a means by which the harmonics are generated as transient discriminate.
A problem with the prior art references discussed above is that the harmonics are masked by the lower frequencies, thereby reducing the audibility of the effect. There is a significant need for an improved method and circuit to eliminate this problem.